Sean Avery receives management's support for stand on marriage equality

It should have been no surprise that Sean Avery had the courage of his convictions to endorse legalization of same-sex marriage in New York in the video he recorded for New Yorkers for Marriage Equality.

"No one who knows me was the least bit surprised," Avery said during a phone conversation on Friday. "My friends, the people who I spend time with, I'm honest with them. They know what's up.

"They know my beliefs."

It's been an interesting week for Avery, who has received near universal public support, much of it accompanied by the predictable qualifier somewhere along the lines of, "I can't believe I agree with Sean Avery on anything, but. . . ."

"The focus shouldn't be on me, it should be on the issue of equal rights, but I kind of think it's funny that people feel the need to say that," Avery said. "But in the end it really doesn't matter.

"I'm certainly not looking for praise from the hockey world."

Though neither the Garden nor the Rangers have issued public statements regarding Avery's participation in the campaign that is being conducted under the auspices of the Human Rights Campaign, both organizations gave him permission to appear in photographs wearing the team uniform within the video.

As well, Avery said he's gratified to have received notes of support from Garden chairman Jim Dolan and president of MSG Sports Scott O'Neil as well as a phone call from Rangers president and GM Glen Sather.

"I had talked with Marriage Equality about doing this maybe a month or so earlier, but I got a little gun-shy with crunch time coming," Avery said. "I didn't want any backlash coming at me when it might have been a distraction for the team, but once the season ended, we got right on it.

"Certainly nobody at the Garden or with the Rangers tried to discourage me."